Explaining Gaps in Employment

There are constructive and creative ways to deal with gaps in your employment history. If the gaps are short you can simply list on your resume the years you were at each job, such as “2001-2002”, instead of including months as in “3/2001-6/2002”. Be aware though, some companies may want you to fill out their own application forms requiring exact dates of employment.

Another popular way to deal with gaps is to claim that you were self-employed as a ‘Consultant’. However, you may have to back this up by listing actual projects you worked on during that time. And putting together a web page for your girlfriend doesn’t count.

You could also attribute the gaps to personal problems you were dealing with (medical issues, family matters, a divorce, etc.), but that’s a gamble: the interviewer might sympathize with you, but they might also wonder why you let your personal problems get in the way of your career.

Finally, you can just come right out and explain why you were out of work. If your company was downsized or went out of business, it’s not unexpected that you would be unemployed for a while. But if you have an especially large gap -- e.g., several years -- you may have to explain why you could not or chose not to find work.

Here are some examples of creative gap accounting that I’ve come across. They may or may not fly depending on the hiring manager.

• Sabbatical
• Personal Projects
• Retooling skill set
• Volunteer Work
• World Travel
• Raised Children

Personally I might be willing to buy any of these explanations assuming you had a good story to go with it.